I thank both the minister and the parliamentary assistant to the minister for their comments this morning. This is a bill that I think we can all support. The end goal is really good.

There is one part of the bill that we have tried to amend, and that has to do with education. Does the parliamentary assistant believe that if we were to make education on sexual harassment for everybody attending college and university mandatory, that, over the years, as more and more students become educated on this topic, it would have a long-term effect on decreasing the amount of sexual harassment we see not only in colleges and universities but throughout our society?

Today, December 1, is AIDS day. One of the most important messages that AIDS taught us is the importance of protecting our blood supply. In the 1980s, AIDS in our blood supply unknowingly infected hundreds of Canadians who needed blood transfusions, leading to the royal commission of inquiry on the blood system in Canada, better known as the Krever inquiry, which concluded that blood is a public resource, that donors should not be paid, that Canada must increase self-sufficiency in all blood and blood products, and that no part of the national blood operator’s duty should be contracted out.

In 2014, a private company was prepared to open paid plasma collection centres in Toronto and Hamilton. Recognizing the threat, the government passed the Voluntary Blood Donations Act. I was proud to vote in favour of that bill, along with the current Minister of Health, Minister Jones, and eight members of the current government, to shut these clinics down.

Now, eight years later, Canadian Blood Services has signed a deal with Grifols pharmaceuticals in order to contract out plasma collection to a for-profit collector.

We must remember the Canadians, the Ontarians who became sick, who died. We must remember the lessons of the past and respect the Krever inquiry.

The Ontario Minister of Health is the lead supervisor of Canadian Blood Services. She has a duty to act right now to protect Ontarians and Canadians by shutting down this deal.